Tribute Griffin
by Flash Foreward
Summary: When Jasper's name comes up in the reaping, there's no question in Henry's mind: he has to take his cousin's place. But that simple act by a relative stranger and the way he plays the games are enough to spark something even he never hoped for: rebellion.


**Title:** Tribute Griffin  
><strong>Fandom:<strong> Unnatural History  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> Julian Morneau/Henry Griffin, Jasper Bartlett/Maggie Winnock  
><strong>Genre:<strong> AU, Drama, Science Fiction, Angst  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> Violence, Mentor/Student relationship  
><strong>Summary:<strong> When Jasper's name comes up in the reaping, there's no question in Henry's mind: he has to take his cousin's place. But that simple act by a relative stranger, his determination to keep Maggie Winnock alive, and his refusal to play the Games by the Capitol's rules begins something that even Henry didn't dare hope for: rebellion.  
><strong>AN:** Not Betaed. Also, I'll try to update semi-regularly, but I can't make any promises considering all the other WIPs I have going right now. I can promise I _will_finish this eventually.

**Chapter One  
>The Reaping<strong>

When Henry woke to find the bed beside him empty, he knew Jasper hadn't slept the night. Henry didn't blame him, and he felt a tug of guilt in his stomach at how rested he felt. He knew what Jasper would say to that – the sarcastic jokes at Henry's expense – and he knew Maggie would remind him that the life he'd led before had obviously prepared him to deal with life or death situations. Henry tried to focus on these imagined reassurances as he padded downstairs to join Jasper and Brian at breakfast, but when he saw the fatigue lining Jasper's face his stomach clenched again and he had to force himself to eat.

"Are you going out to train today?" Brian asked, sipping tentatively at his juice. As a district official, Brian was not actually supposed to know about or condone training for the games, but since Henry offered to train any kid who wanted, Brian let it go – that and the fact that Jasper was getting a better chance at survival.

"I was hoping to," Henry said. "One last run through before…," he trailed off, the words _before we find out who dies_ringing through his mind. He avoided Jasper's gaze, busying himself with his breakfast instead.

"It'll pry just be Mags and I anyway," Jasper said, and Henry looked up to find him pushing his oatmeal around in his bowl, never lifting a spoonful to his lips.

"It usually is," Henry said in a soft voice. Because it was. No one in the District really trusted Henry, and he couldn't blame them. It had only been eight months since he had been sent to live with his uncle and cousin in what had apparently once been his home. A long, long time ago. The citizens had every right to distrust him – what did he know of the Capitol's hold? Of the games?

He was a stranger, an intruder who's name was entered only once for the reaping. Even Jasper's name had been entered more than once a year – Brian hadn't _always_been an official. Jasper had known hunger. And every one in the district knew fear.

Not that Henry hadn't, but it was a different kind of hunger and fear in a different place and he knew he had no right to tell others how to prepare for what was coming. He wouldn't push them to trust him.

"Be careful," Brian said, jolting Henry from his thoughts. "And don't be late."

"Of course not, Uncle Brian," Henry said, holding his uncle's gaze despite the hopelessness that shone in them – this world was much harder to live in than any Henry had been in before and that terrified him in a way even he did not understand. Worse than the hunger and the police state and the drastic difference in status were the games – the games that turned a strong man like Brian Bartlett into a man without hope. The games Henry refused to believe were real until Jasper dug out the footage of their district's only living victor – Julian Morneau – and made Henry watch.

The games that forced twelve children to fight to the death.

"How can they do this?" Henry had asked.

"It's a reminder," was Jasper's reply, "that the Capitol is in control."

Henry had gotten the full history lesson from Maggie – the rebellion, the destruction of District seven, the need for the Capitol to assert its power. It all made Henry sick with anger, but he said nothing – barely a week in and even he knew better than that.

Eight months later and Henry was about to see his first reaping. He was definitely not looking forward to it.

"When's Maggie coming over?" Henry asked, trying to distract himself.

Jasper glanced at the beat-up watch on his wrist. "Soon," he said, forcing himself to eat a mouthful of oatmeal under the watchful, worried gaze of his father.

"I'll set out your suit for the reaping, Brian said. He stood and collected the breakfast dishes, his shoulders hunched as he carried them to the sink.

Jasper watched him, eyes wide with worry. Henry reached out, settled a hand on Jasper's arm. "It'll be all right," he said.

Jasper's head snapped around, his eyes narrowing in a glare. "Eleven kids will be sentenced to death today, how will that be all right?" he snapped. He stood, pulling his arm from Henry and walking briskly to the front of the house. He pulled a chair over by the window and sat down, watching for Maggie.

Henry sighed and leaned back in his own chair, feeling that hopelessness he saw in his uncle and cousin begin to settle over him as well. When he'd first come here and seen the world his parents and been born to, he tried to look at it as home. He had been born here, after all. When that didn't work, he tried to view it all from an anthropological point of view, but even that hadn't made adjusting to this world of hunger and fear any easier. That was part of why he started offering to train people – to distract himself from this nightmare world he was now forced to call home.

"Maggie's here!" Jasper called. Henry quickly pushed his worry and fear aside and followed Jasper out to the street where Maggie was waiting.

_This could be it_, Henry thought as he and his friends walked in silence towards the meadow at the edge of the District, this could be their last training session ever.

They would have to make it count.

* * *

><p>Jasper and Maggie lay side by side in the long meadow grass, sweaty and tired from their training session. They could see Henry, carefully cooling down, but he seemed distant and Jasper felt as though he and Maggie were alone despite his cousin's proximity. He shifted his arm over, slipping his hand around Maggie's.<p>

He let himself smile when she tightened her grip instead of pulling away.

"What'll you do if it's your name?" Jasper asked.

He felt Maggie shrug. "Play the game," she said. "I wouldn't really have a choice, would I?"

"Yeah," Jasper mumbled. "I hate…I hate hoping it isn't us, because it feels like wishing it on someone else."

Maggie didn't answer, but he felt her grip on his hand tighten briefly before she let go and sat up. "We should get going," she said. "We have to get ready."

Jasper sat up beside her and Henry helped them both up. They set off towards the cluster of houses and businesses that stood dark and rundown before them. The silence hung over them and Jasper grasped for something to say to ease the tension he could feel weighing down on them.

"I never understood why we have to dress up for this," he said.

Maggie shrugged. "It's an honor, don't you know?" she said, doing nothing to hide the bitterness in her voice.

Nothing else was said and Maggie peeled off towards her house with barely a wave of goodbye.

"I hope she doesn't get picked," Jasper said, "I hope none of us get picked."

Henry didn't say anything, he just reached over and took Jasper's hand, holding it loosely in his own until they reached the door to their house.

* * *

><p>Jasper stood as close to Henry as he could as they took their place in the square. He craned his neck, searching for Maggie in the girls' section, but he couldn't find her in the crowd. He turned his attention to the make-shift stage that had been built. His father sat stiffly in his chair next to Sarah, the Capitol representative for their District. The chair beside her was empty, which was no surprise – District Five's only living victor, Julian Morneau, would be late if he bothered to show up at all.<p>

Sarah bounced up from her chair to the podium, her movement bringing the crowd to attention. "Shall we begin?" she asked – she had stopped waiting for Julian years ago. The crowd stood in silence as she reached for the ball with the girls' names in it. "Lady's first," she said, making her voice sickly sweet. She snatched up a ticket and pulled it out. She held it in front of her and cleared her throat. "Maggie Winnock," she announced.

Jasper spun his head around, craning to see Maggie as she made her way through the crowd. She emerged at the foot of the stage and silence fell over the crowd as they watched her mount the steps – Maggie was an official's kid, Jasper figured most people were trying to decide if they would wish this on their worst enemy, let alone a District Official who had managed to be fair even with the Capitol breathing down his neck.

He knew that if his name was called, they'd be asking themselves the same question all over again.

Maggie crossed the stage, shook Sarah's hand, and took her seat beside Julian's empty one. Sarah reached into the boys names, grasped a ticket, and pulled it out.

She cleared her throat. "Jasper Bartlett," she announced.

Before Jasper could move, he felt Henry's fingers digging into his arm. "No," Henry said, pushing past Jasper towards the stage. "I Volunteer," he called, stopping at the steps and looking up at Sarah.

"What's your name, then?" Sarah asked.

"Henry Griffin," Henry replied, climbing the steps and stopping in front of Sarah.

Sarah shifted. "I'm not sure," she looked back at Jasper's father. "You're not from-"

"I was born here," Henry said, his voice quiet and dangerous, carried across the crowd by Sarah's microphone.

"Oh, C'mon, Sarah!" a voice called. Jasper watched, breath held, as Julian Morneau climbed onto the stage and stopped beside Henry. "It's not like it'll matter in the end anyway," he said, settling a hand on Henry's shoulder, "District Five hasn't had a victor in years."

"All…all right," Sarah said. "The Tributes for District Five are Maggie Winnock and Henry Griffin."

Henry pulled away from Julian and took his seat beside Maggie. Jasper forced himself to breath, fighting the emotions surging through him.

His two best friends sat before him, about to be sent to their deaths.

It wasn't fair.


End file.
